Call the midwife

I enjoy it, too. Shirleyw, I was thinking the same about the Sergeant and Nurse Crane. I think it may develop!
It's such an easy to follow, uplifting type of program, perfect for a Sunday evening.

I love this prog, and the winter of 1962/3 certainly brings back lots of frozen memories! I mainly remember how VERY cold it was! No central heating, Jack frost windows and bedroom walls, buses running, amazingly, but always late as everything was frozen solid! trains ditto. It was just SO cold!!! You could skate on the Thames at Oxford for weeks on end!

I cannot afford all these tissues - enough, enough!

Luckygirl

I think more true to life than that programme The Crown

I also don't remember pre-arranged power cuts. Were there any and I was too young to notice, or was that poetic licence?

The only thing I don't like as Jane10 said, is the voiceover at the beginning and end. This series is way past the period covered by the books so "the voice of Jenny" is no longer really relevant is it?

I was 20 in 1963, and I don't remember any power cuts, there could have been though, I still lived at home and things like that didn't really bother me! In the winter of discontent some ten years and two small children later, it certainly did!!!

I was 15 in 1963 and don't remember power cuts either but I do remember the snow. My Grandparents came to stay for a couple of days and stayed for 2+ weeks because the roads were blocked. I also remember going out to a lorry in the road to collect water. Luckily we had gas cooking and oil heaters and a real fire so we managed to keep warm - at least downstairs!!!

I'm afraid I'm not too keen on Call the Midwife. I saw last night's episode which was interesting but it can be a bit sugary for my taste

I can remember my mother putting a paraffin heater in the loo to stop the water freezing!!, we had one or two of these, one called a Rippingil?!! I can remember this being particularly dangerous as it would flare if turned up too high!!! I doubt you can buy them now!!! We also had an open fire, and an Ideal Boiler in the kitchen (coke)!! so downstairs was fairly ok. Upstairs was like a freezer!!!
A year later I was married in Feb, and it was a beautiful spring day, having been an exceptionally mild winter! What a difference a year made!!

I have a little paraffin Kelly lamp on my kitchen shelf which is the one I used to take out to the toilet with me as a child. It used to flare up alarmingly, like yours, nigglynellie - I can't imagine calmly handing it over to one of the DGS! Mind you, I also had a toy tin kitchen range with a working oven and hob, powered by methylated spirits. I must have been 6 or 7. How times have changed (probably just as well!).

I recorded last night` s episode and haven't seen it yet, but am looking forward to it, as 1963 was the year I got married and had my first baby, see if it brings any memories back.

Just watched it now as recorded it. Read all the books and was delighted when series started. However, though I still enjoy it, I think it’s become a bit formulaic. Also, I found last night’s episode, and the Christmas one, not convincing in conveying the cold. You couldn’t see anyone’s breath outside or in. When I was growing up without central heating, I could see my breath in the bedroom. The piles of fake snow didn’t convince me!

I remember ice on the inside of the windows - it made lovely patterns and we got dressed underneath the bedclothes.

I've just watched last night's episode and did enjoy it despite the fake-looking snow.

I loved it too. The new baby taking her first breath after a worrying wait was lovely. Cried at that as well as the sick wife dying. I remember the snow in London thst year too.
By the way Jane10 the “sickly” voiceover is Glenda Jackson, I think. I quite like hearing those comments at the start and finish of the episode.

I thought it was Vanessa Redgrave.

In an interview recently, Jenny Agutter said that the winter scenes were filmed in May. The fake snow handles like the real thing apparently. My main quibble with it, is that it's too white! As a kid living in the inner city surrounded by factories, the snow had a good coating of soot within 24 hours.

The voice is Vanessa Redgrave

I always thought it was Vanessa Redgrave doing the voiceover, too?
I was only very young in 1963, so don’t really remember that winter - will have been kept nice and cosy indoors. However, I do remember those paraffin heaters as we had one, and so did Grandma, during the 1973/4 winter of discontent. Boy, did they smell! No central heating then, so always ice on the inside of the single glazed windows. Perhaps that’s why winters felt colder, though I’m pretty sure we had more, and deeper snow back then than now for more of the country.

All those cliche characters with their hearts of gold are bound to melt the snow with the sheer glow of their artificial goodness! Cynical? Moi? Will definitely watch Vera instead next week. Enjoy your tears ladies.

Oh Jane10 !! I've just watched it on catch up, and while I agree that it is a bit too good to be true, nevertheless I love it, became misty eyed when the poor lady died of lung cancer and her husband told her how much he loved her, thank goodness that baby survived, but worried about Trixie and her chap, hopeful for Nurse Crane and positive for the new midwife from Jamaica (can't remember her name!)
I know I'm probably a simple soul, and I like Vera well enough, but I love this prog, fake snow, power cuts?! and all!!!

Oh niggly - saccharine addiction?!

What with McMafia and other scary/nasty programmes I think we need a bit of light-hearted relief.

Not an addiction Jane10 and certainly not to saccharine-yuk!! more memory lane though rose coloured glasses! Each to their own though!

Yes, each to their own. I can’t stand ruddy Vera!